Vietnam Battles

After having left its mark in the history books for gallantry and courage in action at Iwo Jima in WWII… the Fifth Marine Division was reactivated as the Fifth Marine Expeditionary Brigade on March 1, 1966 to meet the growing U.S. commitment in Vietnam.

Immediately after its activation, “The New Fifth” undertook an intensive training cycle to achieve full combat readiness and, on April 20, 1967 Regimental Landing Team 26 was moved to Vietnam where it took part initially in numerous operations in I Corps.

Elements of the Fifth’s 26 Marines participated in the memorable Battle of Khe Sanh as enemy forces began an all-out seven week drive endeavoring to capture that strategic combat base. The outnumbered Leathernecks valiantly fought off repeated North Vietnam onslaughts inflicting heavy casualties on two attacking N.V. Army Divisions.

The climatic battle came on Easter Sunday 1968 when the 3rd Battalion 26 Marines attacked the enemy’s 881 North complex, their heavily fortified key rocket base threatening our forces in Khe Sanh. It was defended by a strongly armed and entrenched NVA Battalion. But so well planned, executed, and courageously carried out was the 26’s attack that, by 1430 that day, 881 North was secured and the NVA defenders who had not fled during the fierce fighting, were either dead or captured.

The Marine Corps’ official history, “Battle for Khe Sanh” refers to this fight as “the last battle of the great siege of Khe Sanh.” For gallantry in action there, Regimental Landing Team 26 was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. Following Khe Sanh, the 26th Marines moved into the DaNang area where they participated in a series of mobile operations which smashed enemy base camps.

Meanwhile, the 27th Marines, the Fifth Division’s second infantry regiment to see action in Vietnam, was airlifted into combat from Camp Pendleton on 48 hours notice at the height of the 1968 Tet Offensive. Elements of the regiment saw action South of DaNang in the “Rocket Belt,” while others took part in mop-up operations and subsequent defense of Hue City. Two battalions of the 13th Marines, the Fifth’s artillery regiment, also served in Vietnam. The 28th Regiment remained in Camp Pendleton as a ready unit and provided training for replacements of its sister Divisions in Vietnam.

The famed Fifth Division passed into history once again at a formal deactivating ceremony and parade at Camp Pendleton on November 26, 1969